brought in the venison, and surreptitiously secured it. When Esau returned, and the fraud was discovered, Esau importuned Isaac, if not to retract his blessing of Jacob, at least to confer a blessing upon him. This Isaac refused; though Esau, with tears, and earnest entreaties, besought him to change his mind, and to restore that blessing to him which his brother had so fraudulently obtained. But he wept and implored in vain. And his example is held up by the writer to the Hebrews, as a warning to those who are tempted to make light of their christian privileges, and to neglect the day of their visitation.

Having stated these facts, I now proceed to make some remarks upon this history.

1. Observe the fidelity of the sacred historian.

The faults of distinguished persons are related by him with the same simplicity as their virtues. Isaac and Jacob are heroes of the story, yet their failings are not concealed. The fond and foolish partia

lity of Isaac and Rebecca to their favorite sons, the selfish, ungenerous, over-reaching spirit of Jacob, his fraud and lies, are related with the same simplicity and impartial attention to truth as the faith of Abraham, the wisdom of Solomon, and the resignation of Eli. There is no history that is written with a fairness and impartiality comparable to that of the Israelite nation and the Abrahamic family. Here men are represented as they exist in real life, with all their virtues and with all their crimes. The judgment of the historians may be sometimes erroneous, and they may sometimes commend when they ought severely to censure; but their veracity and impartiality stand unimpeached. The history therefore speaks for itself, and carries its own credentials with it, beyond other that ever was written.

any

2. The fault of Esau by no means extenuates the crimes of Jacob and Rebecca.

Esau disobeyed his parents, and heaped affliction upon their grey hairs, by marrying into the family of a heathen and an

idolater. He departed from the covenant of his God, probably by joining in idolatrous rites, and by indulging himself in their licentious practices. It was hardly possible for him to enter into so close an alliance with bad and profligate persons, without being seduced, in some degree, into their follies and their crimes. He was headstrong and impetuous. Imagining, or pretending, that he was ready to expire with hunger and fatigue, he, "in evil hour," parted with his birthright, and renounced his interest in the promises for the sake of a single repast. Hence he is justly called profane, and held up as a warning to those who are in danger of resigning their christian privileges and hopes for secular and unworthy considerations.

But all this is no excuse for the conduct of his unkind mother, and his base, ungenerous brother. Esau's conduct was bad, but that of Jacob was far worse. Nothing could betray a more selfish and contemptible spirit than Jacob's mean extortion of the privileges of the birthright from a bro

ther, whom he saw ready to perish with hunger. And as to the conduct of himself and his mother in imposing upon the ignorant and fond credulity of Isaac, it is a continued tissue of wilful and deliberate fraud and falsehood, and betrays, in both the parties concerned, a rooted depravity of heart. It is to be hoped, that both of them, upon reflection, repented of their misdeeds, for they had much greater need to shed tears of penitence and contrition upon the occasion, than the poor youth whom they had combined to defraud.

3. Through the whole of this iniquitous scene the divine character is clear and without a cloud.

Nothing could be more inconsistent with the wisdom and dignity of the divine adnistration, than that the blessings of the covenant should have been made to depend upon the circumstances related in the history of Esau. Nothing could be more ridiculous and absurd than to expect, that the entail of a promise, in which the whole world was materially interested, should

depend on the fond partiality of a doting old man, the artful contrivance of an intriguing woman, or the extortion, fraud, and falsehood of a selfish and dishonest boy. Had the circumstances of the narration led to this conclusion, the history would indeed have been of very doubtful credit. But the contrary is most apparent.

For wise reasons God had ordained the different destiny of the twin descendants of Isaac and Rebecca, previous to their birth, and had actually foretold to the inquiring mother that the elder should serve the younger. This determination was made previous to any voluntary act upon the part of the children, and therefore quite independent on their moral character, upon any merit or demerit of their own. Such is the observation of the Apostle, Rom. ix. 11. "The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger,